Device for feeding iron or steel to spike, nut, or bolt machines.



W. H. LUDEN.

DEVICE FOR FEEDING IRON OR STEEL T0 SPIKE, NUT, OR BOLT MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 3,1905.

91 O, 1 39. Patented Jan. 19, 1909.

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MINI"! H. LUDEN. DEVICE FOR FEEDING IRON 0R STEEL T0 SPIKE, NUT, 0R BOLTMACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 3,1905.

910,139. I Patented Jan. 19, 1909.

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W. H. LUDEN. DEVICE FOR FEEDING IRON 0R STEEL T0 SPIKE, NUT, 0E BOLTMACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 3,1905.

910,139. Patented Jan.19,1909.

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Houwq W. H. LUDBN. DEVICE FORIEEDING- IRON OR STEEL T0 SPIKE, NUT, ORBOLT MAGHINES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 3,1905.

' 910, 139. Patented Jan. 19, 1909.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM H. LUDEN, OF LANCASTER, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-FOURTH TOMILES L. DAVIS, OF LANCASTER, PENNSYLVANIA.

DEVICE FOR FEEDING IRON OR STEEL TO SPIKE, NUT, OR BOLT MACHINES.

To all whom "it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM H. LUDEN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Lancaster city, in the county of Lancaster and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and 'useful Improvements inDevices for Feeding Iron or Steel to a Spike, Nut, or Bolt Machine, ofwhich the following is a specification, reference being had therein tothe accompanying drawing.

My invention relates to improvements in a device for feeding iron orsteel to a spike nut or bolt machine.

The object of my invention is to provide a device of this characterwhich is adapted to be used in connection with any ordinary nut bolt orspike machine, and is operated by the same.

A further object of this invention is to provide a device of thischaracter which is adapted to receive material of difierent thicknessesand widths.

Another object of my invention is to provide a machine of this characterso constructed that should anything happen to the .same, the machinewhich it feeds would continue to operate and the feeding machine wouldautomatically stop its feeding mechanism and thus the same would notbecome broken or otherwise put out of commission by the feedingmechanism not properly working.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1, is a side elevation of myimproved feeding machine, showing the main operating lever omitted. Fig.2, is a side elevation of my improved machine looking from the oppo sitedirection. Fig. 3, is an enlarged detached end view of the adjustablesupporting heads and the operating lever. Fig. 4:, is a verticalsectional view taken on the line of Fig. 1. Fig. 5, is a verticalsectional view taken on line yy of Fig. 1. Fig. 6, is an enlarged sideelevation partly broken away. Fig. 7 is a top plan view showing theclamping members and one of the same partly broken away for showing thespring members for forcing the jaws inwardly. Fig. 8, is an enlargedhorizontal sectional view showingthe wedging members in their operativeposition with the clamping member. Fig. 9, is a detail side view of theguide adjusting member. Fig. 10, is an enlarged Specification of LettersPatent.

Application filed June 3, 1905.

Patented Jan. 19, 1909.

Serial No. 263,548.

detail end View of the guide-adjusting members. Fig. 11, is an enlargedside view of the guide table at the rear of the main table. Fig. 12, isa top plan view of the guide table showing the spring connection.

Referring now to the drawings, 1 and 2 indicate the legs of the machinewhich as shown, are at the ends, and are arch-shaped. as shown in Fig. 3of the drawings, and resting upon said legs are the heads 3 and 4 whichare vertically adjustably supported. The said heads as shown, areprovided with downwardly-extending screw-threaded bolts 5 which passthrough openings in the upper ends of the legs 1 and 2, and on said boltabove the legs are nuts 6 and below said legs on the bolt are nuts 7which firmly hold the heads on the legs, and allow the same to beVertically adjusted. The upper ends of said heads 3 and 4; support thetable 8, and thus it will be seen that said table and the feed mechanismmay be vertically adjusted to accommodate itself to the machine it isfeeding. It being understood that this feeding machine is placed betweenthe furnace and the bolt, nut, or spike machine, and the same being of.diflerent heights, thus it is necessary to have the table and feedingmechanism vertioally-adjustable. The said heads 3 and 4 adjacent theirlower ends are provided with inwardly extending shoulders 9 and 10,which are adapted to support the horizontal bars 11 and 12 upon whichthe feeding mechanism is slidably mounted, as hereinafter more fullydescribed. The ends of said horizontal bars 11 and 12 are bifurcated at13, and adapted to receive the upwardly-extending members 14 carried bythe shoulders 9 and 10 carried by the heads. The said shoulders areprovided with screws 15 which pass therethrough from the underside andbear against the underside of the bars 11 and 12, and thus the said barsmay be vertically adjusted to take up the wear, etc. which is bound tooccur in a device of this character, and thus the clamping jaws are heldin their relative position in respect to the table 8 as will behereinafter fully of said grip members 19 and 20 are so shaped that theyextend outwardly around the table 8, and at the extreme upper ends areprovided with inwardly extending portions 21 .which extend over theouter edges of the table 8.

It will be understood that the table 8 is for supporting the metal barsas they come from the furnace and are fed to the bolt, rivet or spikemachine. The said grip members 19 and 20 are pivotally connected to thelid -hex by mean of o s 2 and the lower ends of said members extenddownwand ly adjacent or in a line with the upper ends of'the feet 1 and2. The Said lower end of said clamping members have bolted t ereto y man of bolts the W dg shaped members 2 1 between which is forced h wedgehich r e the lower end of the gripping members apart, and thus cause thenpper ends to close and grip the metal, which will be hereinafter morefully decr b d- The upper ends of the grip members as shown in Fig. 5,are provided with recesses 26 in which rest the elongated spring tensiongripping blocks 27, said gripping members having transverse openings 28in ;com mau -ication with the said recesses 26, and each gripping block27 is provided with two inwardly-extending pins 29 and 30 which areprovided with coil springs 31, which have one end bearing against thegripping blocks and .the opposite ends bearing against the inner end ofthe recess 28, thus causing the-said blocks to be normally outwardlyspringheld, which allows of the said jaws to at all times grip the barsof metal, regardless of the slight variations in the width or thicknessof the same. The gripping blocks 27 on .the inner faces are providedwith rollers 27 which are adapted to engage the bar being fed ,to themachine, and thus when the gripping blocks are released, and movebackwards to take another hold, the bar being fed is guided by therollers and yet there will be little or no friction.

Pivotally connected to the upper ends of the slide box 16 by a bolt 32,is a downwardlyextending lever 33 which has pivotally connected to itslower end by the bolt 34;, a horizontal lever which passes be tween thelower ends of the grip members 19 and 20, and the opposite end ispivotally connected to the lower end of the lever 37 by means of a bolt36. The said upwardlyextending lever .87 is intermediately pivoted at 38,to the lower edge of theslide-box 16, and-the upper end of the saidlever 37 is pivotally connected at 39 to a second horizontal lever 40,which extends across the machineand passes through an elongated open- 7ing 11 in the upper end of the portion 16 of the slide-box 16, and hassecured thereto a crosshead 42 which rests upon the slideba rs 11 and 12and is adapted to slide thereon.

The vertically disposed lever 33 has connected thereto aninwardly-extending horizontal 'bar 43 which carries at its inner end thewedge 25 heretofore described, and thus as-the lever 33 is moved in orout, the wedge moves between the wedge-shaped members 24 carried by thegrip jaws 19 and 20, and the upper ends are forced togetherto grip themetal bars. The extreme lower ends of the grip jaws are provided withscrews 44: to which is secured the ends of a c'oil'spring 15 whichnormally holds the lower ends of the jaws together and separates theupper ends when the wedge 25 is in its outward p.o sition.

Secured 'to the floor or base upon which the machine is mounted adjacentthe leg 2,

is a journal bearing 46 in which is mounted a horizontal shaft 417. Thesald shaft has at the right of the machine an upwardly 7 extending armor lever 48 which is rigidly secured to the said Shaft and adapted tooscillate the same. The upper end of said lever has pivotally connectedthereto at 49 the horizontally-extending operating arm 50 which extendsforward to the bolt screw or spike-making machine and is operativelyconnected thereto, and through the medium of which the whole feedmachine is operatively connected. The said shaft has rigidly connectedthereto the upwardly-extending arm which is provided with the enlargedhorizontal portion v52, which is provided .centrally with theupwardly-extending standard 53, and pivotally connected to the inner endof said enlarged horizontal portion 52- at 5 1 is the upward-lyextendingoperating arm 55. The said arm passes through a loop 56 carried by theupper end of the standard 53, and the said loop serves as a guide andalso as a stop for'th'e operating lever The said standard 53 is providedwith a rigid outwardly-extending arm 57 which is provided at its outerend with a plate 58 through which the rod 59 is free to pass. The saidrod at its outer end is provided with a stop 59 to prevent the same frombeing drawn out from within the plate 58. The upper end of said rod ispivotally connected to the operating lever at 60, and surrounding saidrod is a coil spring 61 which has one end bearing against the arm 57,and the upper end bearing against the operating lever 55, which is ofsuch strength as to normally hold the lever 55 in its position shown inFig. 1. This posit-ion as shown, is up against the standard 53, andundernormal conditions is formed as a part of the same and rocks backand forth with the same as it is rocked by the shaft 47, which isoperated as heretofore described. Theupper end of said lever 55 adjacentits upper end is provided with a catch 62 which is pivoted at 63 to thesaid lever, and the outer end of the said catch is provided with a slot64: which is adapted to drop over the pin or bar 65 carried by the slidehead, and thus the slideboX is reciprocated and the clamping jawsoperated as said lever 55 is rocked. The outer end of the catch 62 isprovided with a handle 65 by means of which the catch is raised and thelever disconnected from the feeding mechanism. By this arrangement, itis readily seen that the lever may continue to move and the feedmechanism uncoupled therefrom should it be desired to stopthe same forany reason whatever.

Vhen the lever 55 is coupled by means of the catch 62 to the cross-slidehead 42, the same is moved on the bars 11 and 12 which draws the upperend of the lever 37 in the direction indicated by arrow in Fig. 6, andthe lower end of the lever 33 in the direction indicated by arrow, samefigure, through the medium of the bar L0. The movement of the lever 33as above stated, moves the wedge 25 between the wedge blocks 24 carriedby the lower end of the grip members 19 and 20, and thus the upper endsare brought together and the metal bar firmly clamped between the same.The continued movement of the cross-head 4C2 draws the whole slide boxforward in the direction indicated by arrow, and thus the metal bar isfed forward to the machine. When the lever 55 has reached its limit ofmovement and the same starts backward through the medium of the levers4:0, 39, 35 and 33, the wedge is first moved from between the wedgeblocks and the spring 45 releases the clamp jaws from the metal rod andthe continued movement of the lever causes the slide-box to slide up thebars 11 and 12 and return to its original position ready for anotheroperation of earrying the metal bar forward.

In order to adjust the movement of the levers 40, 39, 37, 35 and 33,before the movement of the slide-box is commenced for the purpose ofcausing the grip members to move more or less for clamping bars ofdifferent widths, I provide the bar 40 with a screwthreaded portion 66which screws into a nut 67 carried by the lever 37, and thus byshortening or lengthening the bar 40 the movement of the wedge 25 ischanged, which in turn regulates the inward movement of the clampingjaw. In order to more certainly limit the movement of the clamping jaws,I provide the plates 17 with screws 68 which are in the path of movementof said jaws, and thus by screwing the same in or out, the absolutemovement of the clamping jaws is regulated.

It will be understood that the metal bars are not entirely supported bythe table 8, but only rest upon the same when the grip jaws or membersare moving back to take another hold, and the bar is raised slightlyfrom the table when the grip jaws take hold of the same, and thus there1s less wear upon the table. Below the table 8 I place a pan G9 which isadapted to catch the scales from the heated metal, and prevent the samefrom entering the working part of the machine.

The rearward ends of the spring-pressed grip blocks 27 are slightlybeveled at 70 which allows the same to more readily receive the end of abar as it starts through the machine. In order to absolutely prevent thebar of metal from any reason riding up from between the grip blocks, Iprovide a roller 71 which is supported in a bracket 72 which is carriedby the table 8. The forward ends of each of said grip blocks areprovided with guide bars 73, which serve as gdditional guides for themetal bar being At the forward end of the table 8 I provide anadditional guide 73 which is pivotally connected to the table 8 by abolt 0r rod 7 1, and said table or guide I provide with the upwardlyextending members 75 and 7 G and thus the bar is held between the sameas it is being cut off by the machine. The said guide moves in thedirection indicated by arrow in Fig. 12, and is normally pushed in thatdirection by a spring 77. The guide 7 8 being pivoted as beforedescribed, allows of a sidewise movement of the bar of iron being out,caused by many reasons within the machine to which it is being fed, andwill prevent any injury to any part of my feeding machine.

It will be seen in the operation of this device, should anything happento the gripping mechanism so that the same could not be moved or slidupon the bars 11 and 12, in order to prevent the breaking of any parts,I have provided the spring connection 61. This will allow the standard53 and the arm 54k to continue to oscillate and the arm 55 being pivotedat its lower end, will remain in its position, thus preventing themachine from breaking other parts, which would be the case if there wasa rigid connection between said lever and oscillating member.

The upper end of the clamping jaw 20 has pivoted at 7 S, the latch 79which is provided adjacent its opposite end with a slot 80, and theextreme end is provided with a handle 81 by means of which the same maybe swung around so that the slot 80 will receive the pin 81 carried bythe upper end of the clamping jaw 19, and thus the two jaws will belocked together and the feeding of the machine stopped. This locking ofthe two aws together, is precisely the same as if the machine had beenstopped by gripping means not properly feeding, and thus the feedingwill be stopped, but the machine continues to run, as heretoforedescribed. By this structure it will be readily seen that the feeding ofthe bar can at any time be stopped without stopping the remainder of themachin Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire tosecure by Letters Pateat, is

1- A machine of the character described, comprising a frame, horizontaltracks supported by the frame, clamping jaws slidably mounted thereon, alever operatively connected .to said clamping jaws, said lever pivotedat its lower ,end .to an oscillating member, an outwardly extending armrig idly carried by the oscillating member, and a spring connectionbetween said arm and lever. V

2. A machine of the character described, comprising a frame, horizontaltracks car.- ried by the frame, clamping jaws slidably mounted on saidtracks, a series of levers pivotally connected together and connected tothe clamping jaws for sliding the jaws on the track, and simultaneouslyclamping said jaws together, a lever for operating said series oflevers, an outwardly-extending arm rigidly carried by the operatinglever, and a spring connection between said arm and series .of levers.

3. A machine of the character described, comprising a frame, ahorizontal. supporting table carried thereby, a track carried by theframe below the table, a sliding box carried by the track, clampingmembers carried by the box, and extending over the table, and a seriesof levers pivoted together and connected to the clamping members andadapted to operate the clamping members during one movement ,of the:box.

4. A machine of the character described, comprising a frame, a slidingbox on said frame, a table above said box, clamping jaws carried by thebox and extending over the table, means for reciprocating said box, andmeans whereby the reciprocation of said box closes said jaws, and meansfor opening said jaws.

5. A machine of the character described, comprising a frame, clampingjaws slidably mounted thereon, a lever operatively connected to saidclamping jaws, said lever pivoted at its lower end to an oscillatingmember, an outwardly extending arm rigidly carried by the oscillatingmember, and a spring connection between said arm and lever.

6. A machine of the character described, comprising a frame, clampingjaws slidably mounted thereon, a lever operatively connected to saidclamping jaws, said lever pivoted at its lower end to an oscillatingmember, and an upwardly extending member rigidly carried by theoscillating member and against which the operating lever is normallyspring held.

-7. A machine of the character described,

comprising a frame, clamping jaws slidably mounted thereon, a leveroperatively connected to said clamping jaws, said lever having its lowerend pivotally connected to an oscillating member, an upwardly extendingarm rigidly carried by the oscillating member, an elongated loop carriedby said member and through which passes the lever, ahorizontally-extending arm carried by the oscillating member, a rodcarried by the lever and loosely passing through the outer end of saidhorizontal bar, and a coil spring surrounding and normally holding thelever up against the upwardly-extending arm.

,8. A machine of the character described,

mpri ng a r m a t bl carried thereby,

a slide-box carried by the frame, clamping jaws carried by thes1ide-box, a pivoted lever adjacent said slidebox, means for operatingsaid lever, a pivoted catch carried by the lever and adapted to catchover said slidebox.

;9. A machine of the character described, comprising a -;frame, clampingjaws slidably mounted on the frame, a lever adjacent said clamping jaws,and .a pivoted catch carried by the lever and adapted to lock theclampingjaws thereto.

10. A machine of the character described, comprising a frame, clam-pingjaws pivotally carried by said frame, means operated by the machine foroperating said jaws, a spring connection between the jaws and theconnec-, tion with the machine, a pin carried by the upper .end ,of oneof said jaws, a swinging catch pivotally carried :by the upper end ofthe other jaw and provided With a slot to re ceive the pin of the otherjaw, and locking the two jaws together whereby the spring connectionallows the machine to continue to run and the jaws to remain stationary.

11. A machine of the character described, comprising a frame, clampingjaws slidably mounted thereon, a lever operatively connected to saidclamping jaws, an oscillating member carried by the frame, said leverpivoted at its lower end to said oscillating member, means on saidoscillating member for operating said lever, and a spring connectionbetween said lever and operating means, whereby the lever will remain atrest and the operating mechanism continue to. run.

12. A machine of the character described, comprising a frame, a tablecarried by the upper end of the frame, a track carried 'by the framebelow the table and parallel therewith, a sliding box carried by thetrack, clamping jaws intermediately pivoted to the sliding box, a leveroperatively connected to said clamping jaws, said lever having its lowerend pivotally connected to an oscillating member, an upwardly extendingarm rigidly carried by the oscillating member, an elongated loop carriedby said member and 910,139 through which passes the lever, a horizon- Intestimony whereof I aflix my signature tally-extending arm carried bythe oscillat-i in presence of two Witnesses. ing member, a rod carriedby the lever and VILLIAM H LUDEN loosely passing through the outer endof said horizontal bar, and a coil spring surrounding Witnesses:

and normally holding the lever up against I D. M. ROTHENBERGER, theupwardly-extending arm. T. ROBERTS APPEL.

